The Cheetah Girls 2 (also known as The Cheetah Girls: When in Spain) is the 2006 sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie, The Cheetah Girls. Its premiere received the highest ratings of all Disney Channel Movies at its time, a total of over 8.1 million viewers, beating the premiere ratings of High School Musical (7.7 million), and beating previous highest rated DCOM record holder, Cadet Kelly (7.8 million) as well as becoming the highest rated Cheetah Girls movie in the trilogy.[1] The sequel is about a talented teen quartet who take a whirlwind tour of Spain to pursue their dreams of pop superstardom. Unlike its predecessor which incorporated karaoke-like musical numbers, The Cheetah Girls 2 turned into more of a musical.

Contents

Plot

The movie begins in Manhattan, two years after the first movie, where the Cheetah Girls have just completed their junior year and are performing at a Graduation Party for the Manhattan Magnet's Class of 2006 ("The Party's Just Begun").

Later while having a sleep-over at Galleria (Raven-Symoné)'s, Chanel (Adrienne Bailon) tells the girls that her mother, Juanita (Lori Anne Alter), is planning a trip to Barcelona, Spain, where they will be visiting Luc (Abel Folk), Juanita's boyfriend. Chanel is bummed and does not want to see Luc while the other girls are upset about being separated for the summer when Aquanette (Kiely Williams) sees a shooting star and the girls make a wish together - to go to Spain with Chanel. At that very moment, one of the girl's magazines flips pages until it comes across an ad for a Barcelona music festival. Galleria enters the Cheetah Girls and the next day, her mother Dorethea (Lynn Whitfield), Juanita, and the Cheetah Girls all travel to Spain.

When the girls arrive in Barcelona, they do some shopping before resting in a Cafe. Soon they hear a guitar playing and meet Angel (Peter Vives), a mysterious guitar player who accompanies them around Barcelona as they sing to the entire city, and he becomes Galleria's love interest ("Strut").

The next day the girls audition for the festival and earn a spot ("Cheetah Sisters (Barcelona Mix)").

The next day at breakfast, they meet Joaquin (Golan Yosef), a Count, Luc's godson, and a handsome dancer who becomes a love interest for Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan). The next day after Dorinda finds out Joaquin is a dancer, she goes to his studio, where he teaches her tango ("Dance With Me").

That night Joaquin takes the Cheetahs to the Dancing Cat, a local Spanish night club where all the new artists perform their songs ("Why Wait")("A La Nanita Nana").

There they meet Spanish pop artist Marisol (Belinda), who will also compete in the Music Festival, and her manager/mother, Lola (Kim Manning), who plans a scheme to break up the Cheetah Girls, as they pose a threat to her daughter's chances in the competition, and she starts making Marisol distract Chanel from The Cheetah Girls. Meanwhile, Aqua and Dorothea have been designing clothes with Dorothea's old friends, Juanita is trying to get a proposal out of Luc, Dorinda is teaching hip hop to Joaquin's class, and Galleria is the only one focused on the competition, as she is writing a song called, "Amigas Cheetahs", which they will sing at the competition ("Do Your Own Thing").

Galleria notices that everyone is getting involved in other activities except for her ("It's Over"), and eventually decided to take a train to Paris, where she can meet up with her father, Francobollo, and he will take her back home to Manhattan. While at a train station, the other three girls find Galleria and sing the starting sequence of "Amigas Cheetahs", and Galleria says she will only come back if they stay focused. While Chanel walked around the house, she overhears Juanita talking to Dorothea about how she believes that Luc doesn't want to marry her because Chanel doesn't like him. Luc later proposes to Juanita ,after Chanel gives him permission, and she gladly accepts. Luc tells Chanel that she can stay in New York with her friends for her upcoming senior year. However, the Cheetah Girls' dreams are in serious trouble. While they were performing Step Up, Lola convinces the Dancing Cat's manager to pay the Cheetah Girls money. The competition will only allow amateur performs to compete. Accepting payment from the Dancing Cat makes the Cheetah Girls professional performers. Angel, who was present during the entire exchange, investigates.

Right before Chanel is going to get changed to perform with Marisol, the Festival Director informs that the Cheetah Girls are able to perform after getting a tip. Everyone is surprised when they see that the informer was his nephew, Angel. He informed that Lola tried to sabotage the Cheetahs, and his uncle reinstates the girls as the Cheetah Girls. Lola tries to dispute, but the Director will not hear it. Marisol finally tells off her mother, saying she is quitting the competition because she loves to sing and her mother is just desperate to make her a star. The Cheetah Girls then perform "Amigas Cheetahs", and as a surprise, bring Marisol onto the stage, along with Joaquin's dancing crew, Angel on the guitar and the Director on the trumpet. Their song is a hit with the crowd.

Special Editions

Bonus tracks

Disneyland concert DVD tracks

All songs performed by the Cheetah Girls

"The Party's Just Begun"

"Step Up"

"Cinderella"

"Strut"

"Cheetah Sisters"

Reception

The premiere of the movie became Disney Channel's highest rated Disney Channel Original Movie with a total of 8.1 million viewers, beating the previous record holder Cadet Kelly, which had a total of 7.8 million viewers. This was then beat by Jump In!, which closely beat it with 8.2 million viewers. Currently, the highest-rated DCOM is High School Musical 2 with 17.2 million viewers. The Cheetah Girls 2 is currently the sixth highest-viewed DCOM as of September, 2009. Feedback to the movie has been generally positive for the target audience.

Ultimate Disney said "this film lays off on some of the annoyances found in the first film. The Cheetah Girls have grown up and thus grown out of the annoying tweenage girl characterizations that are now seen in the snobby minor characters of Hannah Montana." The review went on to say "the nicest thing about this sequel is that on screen, the Cheetah Girls still seem to exemplify a deep friendship among a group of young women. The chemistry between the central actresses is strong, making them a believable group of friends who appear to be having a lot of fun making this movie."[3]

About.com was also favourable, commenting "The Cheetah Girls 2 contains the expected cheesiness, drama, and unrealistic plot, but I have to admit that I was totally taken in."[4] Common Sense Media also stated "The characters have aged, and their flair for drama has taken a backseat to introspective decision making and goal setting, making them more realistic (and positive) role models."[5] The Cheetah Girls 2 DVD currently holds a 4 and a half star rating on Amazon.com.[6] Its score on Internet Movie Database, while the highest of the series, is only 4.3 out of 10.